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Larry Campus vigil honors lives lost to suicide Sparks named interim chancellor TAYLOR VANCE
THEDMNEWS@GMAIL.COM
Larry Sparks will be the interim chancellor of the University of Mississippi, according to a press release from the state College Board. “It is an honor to serve the University during this time of transition,” Sparks said in the statement. “I have had the privilege of spending the majority of my career at the University of Mississippi and look forward to serving with a strong team of leaders that will continue moving the university forward.” Sparks, currently the university’s vice chancellor for administration and finance, will replace Chancellor Jeffrey Vitter in office as interim chancellor on Jan. 4, 2019. Sparks’ designation as interim chancellor comes after Vitter’s resignation as the shortest-tenured Ole Miss chancellor since George Holmes retired from his position as the first head of school in 1849, a year after the university’s founding. “Larry Sparks is an outstanding administrator and a lifelong Rebel who has been a leader at the University of Mississippi for more than two decades,” Vitter said in the press release. “He knows the Oxford, regional and Medical Center campuses as well as anyone, and his perspective, talent and leadership ability will serve the university well during this period. I am committed to supporting Larry (Sparks) in any way that I can.” A native of Oxford, Sparks
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PHOTO: PARKER GALLOWAY
A crowd of more than two dozen students and faculty remembered loved ones affected by suicide during a vigil in the Circle on Thursday night.
MAKAYLA STEEDE
THEDMNEWS@GMAIL.COM
Students and faculty came together in remembrance of those they have lost to suicide at the Survivors of Suicide Candlelight Vigil last night in the Circle. Rebels for Suicide Prevention and the University Counseling Center planned the vigil, and the counseling center set up a table, passed out tea candles and shared pamphlets on suicide prevention. Attendees could pin a photo or card to a memory board in commemoration of anyone close to them who lost his or her life to suicide. The vigil was held in honor of suicide attempt survivors and of those who have lost family or friends to suicide, as well as to increase awareness and erase the stigma surrounding suicide. Graduate assistant Bianca Abney, a member of the counseling center’s Suicide Prevention program, opened the night. “The purpose of this event is to come together as a community, so we can all remember the ones we have lost to suicide,” Abney said. “Our hope is to end the
stigma around mental health and know the warning signs around suicide like anxiety and depression.” Rebels for Suicide Prevention president Elizabeth Long said suicide takes the lives of 44,000 Americans every year and is the tenth leading cause of death in America. “These are statistics, but behind each statistic is a person. The purpose of tonight is to raise awareness and decrease the stigma, but most importantly, remember those we have lost to suicide and those who are suicide attempt survivors, like myself,” she said. “As suicide attempt survivors and survivors of suicide loss, it is our job to share the stories of those that never got to be told in hopes of saving someone else.” Long is the survivor of a suicide attempt during her junior year of high school. She said after realizing there was not a student-led organization for suicide prevention, she worked to establish Rebels for Suicide Prevention in order to raise awareness about suicide on campus. “I hope that we can end the stigma around mental health and start the conversation, and I want to let people know that they are not alone,” Long said.
Long urges anyone who is struggling with suicidal thoughts or who has lost a family member to suicide to reach out to a friend or a doctor and receive help. Pam Smith, Ole Miss Student Union administrative coordinator and member of the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, shared the story of losing her son, Scott, to suicide and explained that it encouraged her to speak out against suicide. “I go around to speak to anyone and everybody at the schools to get them to understand that there are going to be things that happen in your life, but that’s not the reason to leave this world,” Smith said. After Smith shared her story, students and faculty at the vigil lit tea candles and held a moment of silence to remember the people who lost their lives to suicide. As Andra Day’s “Rise Up” played, most stood silently while others cried. Junior psychology major Emily Haupt said she was motivated to come to the vigil by her desire to join the Rebels for Suicide Prevention and honor her friend and uncle who she lost to suicide.
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